how would you envision a world without opec and how would the jena benefit without it opec?>> well, opec, opec is really saudi arabia and in june there was a split, and others but which was quite interesting. once again the saudi's wanted to increase their oil production. the iranians and and and arrested, the majority, the meeting broke up and the saudi said we don't want to pump oil into the market anyway so at the moment we are seeing in some ways a repeat of 1977. it will be interesting to see how far they go with it. do know rush is now a major oil producer as so someone just indicated. we see countries in south america at discovering discovering new oil deposits. i mean, opec is to the extent with saudi arabia wants it to be in the insures of the saudi's to use this power so that their power is the most important force in the oil markets in the world. >> i guess in the interest of full disclosure, i must say that i am an iranian immigrant. i've been here for 53 years. the last 40 years of it as a -- there is a lot of resentment in this country because of our dependence

i don't hear the word "opec." and they are ripping us like no one has ripped us before, including china. i don't hear the word china to any great extent. nobody is doing a number on us like china. between the two of them and other countries they are staffing our wealth. taking wealth away from us like candy from a baby. unless we're going to do something about opec, unless we can do something and we can start drilling oil in our country, that will help with opec a lot. unless we are going to do something with opec or china in particular. this year, china is going to walk away with $350 billion call it profit off the united states. $350 billion. we can't do that. there are many, many countries that are walking away. we don't walk away with profit from anybody. we used to be the king. we're not the king anymore. never mentioned in the debates. they are sapping our wealth. i'm a big medicare guy. i am a big social security guy. i want to keep those things. that is where bob and i are more alike than anyone else on th

opec's second biggest producer. the u.s. europe have both discussed throttltlingranian oil exports. >> according to an influential stitute, the germany colony will grow a meager 0.4% next year and could slide into recession at the eurozone debt crisis worsens. the revised growth estimate is just half the level the munich- based think tank forecast with other leading economic institutes back in october, reflecting the sharp deterioration in the outlook for europe's largest economies. germany long looked impervious to the debt crisis, engulfing its neighbors, but data last week showed exports posting their biggest fall in half a year. on to the markets. german blue chips suffered declines for the third day running. our correspondent sent us ts summary of the wednesday trading session from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> only shares of commerce bank work swimming against the stream today, shares went up by 5% after the german government announced that there will be a revival of the banking rescue fund, and that banks come in t

meanwhile, import volumes of opec have fallen. opec countries continue to account for half of u.s. imports. most of that whoever comes from members of sight of the persian gulf and venezuela and nigeria, for example. there's a broad set of issues to consider here, i will briefly cover three. first, the impact of high energy prices investment, technology development and policy incentives are not limited to oil. if you're driving for instance rapid growth and a renewable electricity generation. also, a drilling technology innovation increased unconventional national gas lines and helped keep the gas prices low. shale gas is a dramatically changed the u.s. natural gas out looks so much so some companies are now considering a new liquefied gas exports. other countries are looking to see if they can replicate the gas experience. second, some energy sources and solve environmental and fiscal trade-offs. for example, the use of hydraulic fracturing to recover the wheel has raised concerns about the risks. and some are concerned about the greenhouse gas emissions and ecosystem impacts from

opec's daily production target was 24.85 million barrels a day. but saudi arabia and other countries have increased production since june to prevent prices from rising. the agreement endorsed the saudi move. after the meeting opec secretary general abdullah al badri said thcurrent price level is good for both producing and consuming countries, and that it does not hinder worldconomic growth. meanwhile t head of japan's petroleum association akihiko tembou said prices aren't expected to change much from the current level. he predicts the price will move between 90 and $110 a barrel. >>> let's take a look at market figures once again. >>> that's the latest in business. it is back to catherine now. >> thanks very much, ai. our new timetable says it will take up to 40 years to decommission the damaged reactors at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. nhk has learned about the timetable drawn up by the industry ministry and tokyo electric power company. it calls for the removal of used fuel rods from spent fuel pools in four reactor buildings in t

created or destroyed we'll talk about that and look at if this system is really sustainable meanwhile opec may have a new deal on oil production and the u.s. may be auctioning the first offshore oil leases since deep horizon spill in the gulf of mexico while kioto may have a new protocol and leaders may be trying to work on solutions to debt and unemployment crises but the big picture are energy the economy and the environment all coming to a point where inevitably something's gotta give growth or prosperity meanwhile in the u.s. the house approved a bill to extend payroll tax cuts that the senate is sure to reject and the president would be expected to veto is this yet another case of nothing gets done in washington same story different day with this lack of political will for long term solutions to the country's problems let alone the short term ones is prosperity possible but politicians are just standing in the way remains to be seen what time's person of the year can do about it take a look at the protester so for now let's get to today's capital account. what can i say we live in a w

opec's daily production target was set at 24.85 million barrels a day. but saudi arabia and other countries have increased production since june to prevent prices from rising. the agreement endorsed the saudi move. after the meeting opec's secretary-general abdullah al-badri said the current price level is good for both producing and consuming countries and that it does not hinder world economic growth. >>> meanwhile, the head of japan's petroleum association, akihiko tembo, said oil prices are not expected to change much from the current levels. he predicts the price will move between 90 and $110 a barrel. let's take a look at those market figures once again. ♪ >>> all right. that is the latest from business news. now it is back for more with catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. >>> a new timetable says it will take up to 40 years to decommission the damaged reactors at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. nhk has learned about the timetable drawn up by the industry ministry and tokyo electric power company. it calls for the removal of used fuel ro

iraq still hasn't got its own quota assigned but it's somewhere within this opec basket target. that will be very interesting debate, i think, for the next opec meeting to say how much will iraq be assign and will iraq get a quota the same or higher than iran? which is what it's been signalling that it wants. >> opec ministers gather in vienna announcing they will maintain the current level of oil production, around 30 million barrels a day until next year. the new production limit is the first in three years and is a far cry from six months ago when saudi arabia's oil minister left a meeting in disagreement over production with iran. despite the show of unity, a lot still needs to be done. >> they were determined to get an agreement this time so they wouldn't have the disaster they had last time when the meeting broke up without any agreement. they've avoided that and everybody's come out smiling saying there's an agreement, which is great but they haven't tackled the really key issue, how will the individual country's quotas be allocated and how much will each member produce.

we are cutting down on opec because the demand is down.hat's the only reason. >> i think for the person at home and the person who drives to work every day and sees the high prices in gas what they want to know is when will we get to a point. if we continue on this track, where gas prices will be lower significantly. >> you're talking about gasoline prices. >> yes. >> you can't get natural gas any lower. it is the cheapest you could ever expect. okay, gasoline prices lower. rememb remember, oil prices are set in a global market and they're set by opec. they have 30 million barrels of oil a day. the world uses about 90 million. the 30 million they have will set the price for the other 60 million because it is concentrated in one spot and it stays together and they tell what you the price is going to bsaudis have told us they need 94% oil to meet their commitments. >> before the break, we were talking and you said, listen, i could talk about this for 30 minutes or more. you think this is one of the most important issues facing the american p

meanwhile though import files from opec have fallen, opec countries continue to account for half of u.spec members outside the persian gulf in venezuela and nigeria for example. there's a broader set of issues to consider here all of briefly cover three. first, the impact of high energy prices and investment and technology in developing a policy incentives aren't limited to oil. they're also driving princeton's rapid growth in renewable electricity generation. also, technology divisions have increase in conventional gas supplies to help keep u.s. gas prices low. shale gas has dramatically changed u.s. natural gas outlook so much so some companies now considering new liquefied natural gas exports. other countries are looking to see if they can replicate the u.s. shale gas experience. second, some energy sources involved in by environmental and fiscal trade-offs. for example these hydraulic fracturing to recover natural gas or has raised concerns about resource risks. some are concerned about the greenhouse gas emissions in ecosystem and pecks or moral sense production and transport and r

meanwhile, the import volumes from opec have fallen.pec countries continue to account for half of u.s. net imports. most of that comes from opec members outside the persian gulf, in venezuela and nigeria for example. there's a broad set of issues to consider here. i will briefly cover three. first, the impact of high energy prices investment, technology development and policy incentives aren't limited to oil. they are also driving for instance rapid growth and renewable electricity generation. also, drilling technology innovations of increased and conventional natural gas supplies and help keep natural gas prices low. shale gas is dramatically changed the u.s. natural gas output. so much so some companies are now considering new liquefied natural gas exports. other countries are looking to see if the can replicate the u.s. shale gas experience. second, some energy sources involved environmental and fiscal trade-offs. for example, the use of hydraulic fracturing to recover natural gas oil have raised concerns about water resource risks a

you can also talk about opec and talk about how opec is just ripping off this country and how everybody is ripping off the country. that's something i haven't seen in the debates. and honestly, i haven't heard it from president obama. they don't talk about it. they're not talking about what's happening on outside of our country, where they're just eating us alive. and we can't allow it to continue to happen, or we're not going to have a country. so i find that it's been very, very weakly touched on, and it should be one of the most important things. when you talk about jobs and we're outsourcing to india and outsourcing to everywhere, why can't we have those jobs in our communities, in alabama and in iowa and nebraska? why do we -- why are we doing outsourcing to india? you call up for a credit card and you want to find information, half the time somebody picks up the phone and they're stationed in india. what's going on? why do we do that and why do we create incentives for that? so i'd get into that very much, because, ultimately, employment's never going to be down if we're going to

opec needs a credible policy to deal with the prospect of oil prices tumbling next year. barclays' capital said that saudi arabia, the central banker of the oil market, is very wary about higher oil prices or rocking the global economic boat. >> saudi arabia is very wary about oil prices in terms of if it went too high, it would damage the global economic recovery. i think there was very clearly strong demand for saudi oil. the chinese import numbers were very strong. that was the primary taker of saudi oil. that said, i think are very wary. they need $90 to $100 to break even. >> a quick look at the markets around the world. asia still playing catch-up with the worries over the eurozone crisis. investors have been digesting what we saw come out of brussels last friday and going, "you know what? it is not enough." italy when to raise $4 billion, but they have to pay euro-era highs in terms of the interest rates. investors are not pleased whatsoever about what came out of brussels. that is it for the business news. back to you. >> we are going to stay with economics. germa

when we meet we talk about the economic issue. >> we're living in the opec world right now of actualies of about 29.5 million barrels a day. isn't it time to actually put up a production agreement or an actual quota that meets reality? you're about 5 million barrels above the old quota today. >> it's true but at the same time you have one of 11 member countries out. the 11 member countries agree on this production and location. libya is out. and libya will not come back with a normal production before this problem started, before june 2012. so i don't see that there is an agreement as far as production and location before june of 2012. >> libya is surprising everybody, at 950,000 barrels a day, not 500,000 barrels a day. you think they can get back to full production of 1.6 million barrels a day by june of 2012. >> they are not surprising me. i know the libyan export. they work hard to do it even with the very, very difficult situation but they were able to go there. they were able to produce the oil. they are increasing the production. they will produce maybe 1.5, 1.6. >> we're goin

it trails ond saly saudi arabia exports for opec. there's no more important issue than the republicans running for president and iran and what's go on. both of them are here tonight with me in abu dabai. thanks for coming out front tonight. why is iran doing this right now, this very quick and very rapid escalation? >> iran feels a bit agitated by the ongoing developments around them. we have the situation most importantly in syria. syria right now, the regime there, an important member of the iranian axis is the verge of collapse. >> teetering. >> if the regime collapses and changes over there, that's a major breach in their front line. >> robin, is it going to get worse? how much worse? there's people saying america is going to be forced to intervene in some way militarily in iran. >> on the military side that remains to be seen. the big concern, of course, as you said is the effect on oil prices and what effect any attack on iran will have there. we're seeing oil prices rising in response to the tensions and also in response to th

it trails only saudi arabia in exports for opec. there's no more important issue than the republicans running for president and iran and what's go on. both of them are here tonight with me in abu dabai. thanks for coming out front tonight. why is iran doing this right now, this very quick and very rapid escalation? >> iran feels a bit agitated by the ongoing developments around them. we have the situation most importantly in syria. syria right now, the regime there, an important member of the iranian axis is the verge of collapse. >> teetering. >> if the regime collapses and changes over there, that's a major breach in their front line. >> robin, is it going to get worse? how much worse? there's people saying america is going to be forced to intervene in some way militarily in iran. >> on the military side that remains to be seen. the big concern, of course, as you said is the effect on oil prices and what effect any attack on iran will have there. we're seeing oil prices rising in response to the tensions and also in response to th

i would say opec probably number two. the opec nations.ey are doing with oil is unbelievable. over $100 a barrel in a bad economy. they monopolize what they are doing with oil. anywhere else it would be illegal. >> bill: on the chinese premier, okay? the guy you didn't want to go to the white house by the way and i'm still steamed at you for making fun at me when i got a white house dinner. you they're in your lavish new york studio and i'm in beijing, all right? and you come in and you say to me, hey, have you got to knock it off with the currency. you have got to do a quid pro quo on the import, exports. you have got to be fair in trade. you know what i say to you? we are holding about $2 trillion in debt. chinese. if you give me a hard time, trump, i'm going to sell it all. i'm going to flood the market. i'm going to bankrupt you right now. that's what i'm saying to you. and you say? >> we have all of the power. all of the chips are on our side. the trillion, it's actually 1.1 trillion. forget it, that's peanuts compared to the overall

prices have fallen sharply in the last twenty four hours down around five percent a drop came after opec decided to increase its production seeding for the first time in three years and traders are also worried about future demand as europe's crisis remains unresolved and is showing signs of slowing down now to discuss the issue on joined by jeff king oil futures editor at commodities information provide it plots thank you sir for for your time so why are we seeing such a sharp drop in crude prices these days. well i think the key thing here is the the eurozone and the the impact it's having on the euro currency yesterday we saw the euro drop below a dollar thirty for the first time since january. that's putting real pressure on on the oil prices but why do you think that opec has not taken more concerted action to support these low prices. well i think because has stated that it's comfortable with the current process levels i mean we were at the bottom of a range that we've been we've been trading in over the last couple of months and that ranges for brant around one hundred five two hu

it trails only sought saudi ara resources for opec. we have two guests with me tonight in abu dhabi. thank you both for coming "outfront" tonight. why is iran doing this right now, this very quick and very rapid escalation. >> iran feels agitated by the ongoing situation around them. we have the situation in syria. syria right now the regime, an important member of the ariane axis is on the verge of collapse. if the regime collapses or changes over there, that's a major breach. >> is it going to get worse? and how much worse? i mean, there's people now saying america is going to be forced to intervene in some way militarily? >> on the military side, that remains to be seen. the big concern is the effect on oil prices, and how -- what effect any attack on iran would have there. we're already seeing prices rising in response to these tensions america has tried to make the point, pay, stop buying iranian oil. technically that's a difficult thing to do, even if it happened, might have an adverse effect. and that would be that there's less

the united states doesn't have to be on the receiving end of opec's decisions.have great potential in all the resources we require to secure our own energy needs. we can actually be the nation late in the global energy transition to the west. the question is, will we have the leadership to take control of our future and make this a reality? thank you, mr. chairman. and i yield that. >> mr. sherman. >> thank you for holding this important hearings. the effective energy on our national security cannot be overstated. i know that most of the comments here have been about the keystone pipeline. i think these hearings are far broader than the impact is far more significant in this pipeline. to address this pipeline, i think we have to take a look at environmental concerns about how that pipeline should be built, the route it ought to take and why it is bypassing the market of the midwest to go down to texas, which is the one part of the united states saturday has more oil than it can consume. i realize that there are some in the environmental movement to believe that

they don't even talk about opec or very little about china.he major reasons why our country is doing so badly. they take our jobs in the case of china. they manipulate their currencies. then they take our money and loan it back to us and we pay them interest. the whole thing is incredible and it could stop so easily if we had somebody at the top who was confident which we don't. >> greta: what are we not going to see in any of these other debates? >> i think you would have had a tougher debate. i wouldn't give 15 minutes giving instructions. then to go ad nauseam on and on. it would have been a debate on the real issues. it would have been a great debate. i also understand, very strong in the fact he thought it may be dangerous for republicans to go into a debate with somebody that could potentially beat an opponent after may 20th. >> greta: would it have been dangerous? >> i don't think it would have been. even if that was the case, they are going to get their word out, i don't see how a candidate that is far behind -- you could name any of t

we'll be talking about things like, as an example, opec, where nobody is talking about opec at the debatesor very little. china. india. other countries that are just taking our lurch right out of our mouths, and it's a terrible thing that's happening to this country. so we'll be talking about very important issues issues and talg about social issues and environmental issues maybe to a lesser extent, but we'll be talking about environmental issues and talking about lots of different things. one of the big things i believe and one of the big reasons that everybody comes up to my office is because i do have millions of people that agree with me, that the rest of the world -- you know, used to be the opposite. but now the rest of the world is just absolutely taking advantage of the united states, and that should not be happening. >> if other candidates follow suit with governor huntsman and they will not participate in your debate, is that to you a sign that that is someone you would not endorse? is that sufficient reason not to endorse that person? >> sounds like it would be on the way. no qu

opec raid was by far the biggest.ee people took dozens hostage including 11 oil ministers. the group demanded a plane. released all the hostage. he became one of the worst fugitives in all the world until his arrest in 1994. now is he in prison in france. a terrorist hit the big time 36 years ago today. and now you know the news for this wednesday december the 21st, 2011. my last day before the new year going to go home and be with the family and i hope you will as well. a lot of you have been having us into your home for some 15 years we thank you you so much for. this ken wallace, james roseberg and the producer of is